Chocolate Chip Quinoa Muffins
These muffins are an incredible treat for vegetarians (and non-vegetarians alike, especially for Lent Fridays or Meatless Mondays) because they are chock-full of protein with all that delicious quinoa. But they’re still a slightly sweet breakfast muffin that even the kids love. But beware, if you want your chips to stay chips, let your quinoa cool before mixing it in…especially if you’re out of regular chocolate chips and use minis instead…they will melt. For this batch, I ended up with more Chocolate Quinoa Muffins with a few surviving chips. But as you all know by now, I’m no expert baker. I’m merely persistent. They taste great and aren’t cloyingly sweet, so I’m happy. If you’re not a chocolate fan, sub in raisins, cranberries or nuts.
Chocolate Chip Quinoa Muffins
Author/Source:
Kristi @ Onceamonthmom.com, adapted from Quinoa Muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed (~2 cups cooked)
- 1 cup water
- 0.25 cup applesauce (I make mine minus the sugar and plus a bit of vanilla)
- 2 cups flour, unbleached (I used whole wheat white)
- 0.5 cup brown sugar or sucanat, packed
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 0.5 cup chocolate chips
- 0.75 cup milk, whole
- 1 large egg or egg substitute
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan, bring quinoa and water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer; cover, and cook until water has been absorbed and quinoa is tender, 11 to 13 minutes.
Brush muffin pan with oil; dust with flour. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips, and cooked quinoa (double the amount of uncooked, so 2 cups if you cooked 1 cup); reserve any leftover quinoa for another use.
In a small bowl, whisk together applesauce, milk, egg, and vanilla. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, and stir just until combined; divide batter among prepared muffin cups.
Bake at 350 25 to 30 minutes. Cool muffins in pan, 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Freezing Directions:
AFTER baking and cooling, divide among freezer bags and freeze. To serve: Thaw. Reheat in microwave for 30-45 seconds.
Servings: 6 (12 muffins)
**conversion chart image provided by Erik Spiekermann
Do you think that this would work with red quinoa? I have a box of trader joe’s red quiona on the pantry shelf waiting to be used…..
I think that would work just fine! Your cooking time and water amount may be slightly different (as will the taste), but I think it would be good. The red quinoa has a bit earthier flavor than the regular (white) quinoa, so it’s also possible you’d want to add a touch more sugar.
These look like chocolate muffins. Is there cocoa powder in it as well?
Hah, no…I failed to let my quinoa cool before I mixed it in with the chocolate chips and, probably partly because I’d used mini chips (it’s all I had on-hand) they melted. It definitely looks like cocoa powder, but it’s just because my chips melted throughout the batter.
These are yummy! They are kind of like oatmeal muffins in texture – nicely hearty. :-) Just a couple notes: my quinoa needed more water than that to cook until tender, and I ended up with extra – which is nice since I do use it in other dishes. I also made these with a gluten free all purpose mix (increased the b.p. to 2 teaspoons, and added 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum) and substituted non-dairy milk and they turned out very well. (Better than the non-g-free ones, but that was because I mis-measured the milk in the regular ones and so added flour and ended up with dense muffins that still tasted great.) :-)
I usually end up with a bit of extra quinoa, too, but I had EXTRA water. Weird. Different types/brands of quinoa are probably all a little different. I love the sound of your g-free adaptations. Thanks for sharing!
These muffins sound absolutely delicious, and so healthy too! What a treat!
I just made these muffins this morning. The only thing I did differently was use rice milk in place of the whole fat milk. I was a little worried about the big difference in fat so I added 1/4 cup flax meal. These muffins were great. They are mildly sweet, hearty, but not too dense. I will certainly make these again.
Made these last night with just a few modifications to make them dairy free (unsweetened almond milk and frozen blackberries instead of the chocolate chips). And the kids DEVOURED them!!! Great recipe!!
I made these tonight for breakfast tomorrow. I didn’t think we were going to have any left for breakfast because everyone kept sampling them:-) They are great! Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so glad you liked them! Thanks for sharing your experience.
No chocolate chips in the house– how would I use cocoa powder as a substitute?
You could probably add about 1/4-1/2 cup cocoa powder to the dry ingredients do give it a bit of chocolate flavor.
Yum! I’ve wanted some alternatives to using quinoa as a side dish for a long time but have never known what to do. These turned out great with white whole wheat. I thought the texture may be “weird with the quinoa but they are great.
I was wondering if you have tried to make these gluten free? Do you think all purpose gluten free flour might work as well?
I haven’t, but I would think that allp-purpose GF flour would work fine. Let us know if you give it a try!
Ran out and bought a box of quinoa just for this! I’ve never had it before…. I melted my chocolate chips with the hot quinoa then added more chips so they are double chocolaty. I’ll never get the kids to eat them if it doesn’t scream chocolate! Thank you for the recipe!
Just made this and I love them!!! They hit the spot!
YES!! My daughter will love these, but I think I really need to substitute the chips for nuts instead!! This is one recipe I have to try!
Thanks for sharing it!
I just made these. They were very nice!! Only problem I had was that the quinoa became crunchy on the bottom and I found myself not eating the bottom. If anyone has any tips on how to stop this from happening I’d be greatful. Also, next time I think I’d put in slightly less flour and quinoa and add another egg, as they were very dense, didn’t rise very much and I had lots of left over batter. Thanks very much for sharing. I think my little one is going to love them!
Muffins are great. My whole family enjoyed. Next time I think I will add the quinoa while warm to melt the chips. Thanks for the recipe!
I really want to make these, but I am a little confused how much quinoa to use. Do I use two cups of cooked quinoa in the recipe? Thank you.
Yes, it will be about 2 cups once you cook it, I have indicated that on the recipe now for clarification.
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I’ve made these and they are so yummy. But, they don’t seem to last very long sitting on the counter. One time they started molding in two days and the next time, they got hard as rock in two days. Do you have any suggestions as to how to keep this from happening?
Putting them in the freezer and then taking out the desired amount when you want to eat should solve this problem!
So yummy! I cut in half, spread little bit of peanut butter on and microwave for 20 seconds. SO GOOD!
Does it have to be whole milk? We usually only keep skim on hand?
No you can use whatever you have on hand.